Gannet

Irish Name: Gainead
Scientific name: Morus bassana
Bird Family: Gannet
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Conservation status

Status

Resident along all Irish coasts.

Identification

A large seabird with long, narrow wings. Plunge dives into the sea from up to 40 metres, folding wings back on descent to hit the water in a streamlined shape. Long neck, head and bill. Large projecting wedge shaped tail. Large dark webbed feet. In adult plumage is white both above and below with large dark wing tips and a yellowish head. Takes 4 years to reach adult plumage. Juvenile bird is all brown (apart from upper tail coverts), with beautiful fine white speckling. Attains adult plumage slowly with sub-adult birds showing white under sides and a variable amount of black in the wing.

Voice

Noisy at colonies, producing loud grating noises.

Diet

Fish

Breeding

Breeds in colonies on islands off the coast. The main Gannet colonies are located on Great Saltee, Co. Wexford, the Bull Rock, Co. Cork and on Little Skellig in Co. Kerry. A small colony is also found on Irelands Eye, Co. Dublin. Little Skelligs is by far the largest colony with over 26,000 nests and many thousands of additional non breeding birds in attendance. During the 'Seabird 2000' survey, the 26,000 nests recorded at Little Skellig, was an increase from 22,500 recorded at the time of the previous survey in 1984/5.

Wintering

Winters at seas, but can be seen in Irish waters throughout the year.

Monitored by

Breeding seabirds are monitored through breeding seabird surveys carried out every 15-20 years.

Blog posts about this bird

Fair Seas

New protected area off Wexford coast is a step forward for vulnerable seabirds

The recent announcement of the new “Seas off Wexford” Special Protection Area (SPA) is certainly news to be welcomed. For such a designation to be as effective as it can be, it is crucial that strong and effective conservation objectives and management plans are ambitious and that stakeholders are consulted throughout the process. It would be most welcome if the designation of new marine SPAs also led to a new vision for management of Ireland’s entire network of SPAs. BirdWatch Ireland calls on government to ensure that management plans are put in place for SPAs on both land and sea and that a whole-of-government approach is taken to implement them properly to safeguard the future of the birds they are intended to protect. Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien recently designated the new SPA of marine waters off the coast of Wexford which, at over 305,000 hectares, is the largest SPA designated in the history of the state. These waters provide extremely important food sources for seabirds, including Red-listed species such as Puffin, Kittiwake, Common Scoter and many other vulnerable Amber-listed species such as Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Shag, Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Roseate Tern, Red-throated Diver, Gannet, Common Tern, Little Tern, Sandwich Tern, Mediterranean Gull and Guillemot. kittiwake-in-flight-with-nesting-materials-in-beak

Kittiwake. Photo: Colum Clarke.

Under EU legislation, the Irish government has made a commitment to designate 10% of its waters as protected by 2025, and a total of 30% by 2030. This new designation increases the percentage of Ireland’s marine protected waters to 9.4%, just under the 2025 target. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, many questions remain, primarily, what will “protection” look like in practice? It is paramount that this is made clear in the soon-to-be-published SPA’s conservation objectives, which should detail the activities that will and will not be permitted in the SPA, among other measures. We look forward to reading them shortly. At the same time, BirdWatch Ireland in collaboration with BirdLife Europe and BirdLife International are mapping Ireland’s marine Important Bird Areas according to international and standardised BirdLife International criteria under a project funded by the Flotilla Foundation. This is an important time for our seabirds and it is welcome to see the government’s focus finally on setting out protected areas for them. Red-throated-diver-adult-Summer-plumage-swimming-

Red-throated Diver. Photo: Chris Gomersall

While the finer details about the Wexford SPA have yet to come to light, it is clear that certain activities will not be permitted in the Wexford SPA. The Minister has issued a Direction in relation to certain activities, which must not be carried out within or close to the SPA, unless consent is lawfully given. The listed activities are reclamation including infilling; blasting, drilling, dredging or otherwise disturbing or removing fossils, rock, minerals, mud, sand, gravel or other sediment; introduction or reintroduction of plants or animals not found in the area; scientific research which involves the removal of biological material; any activity intended to disturb birds; undertaking acoustic surveys in the marine environment and developing or consenting to the development or operation of commercial recreational/ visitor facilities or organised recreational activities.

Little Terns.

Together with our partners at Fair Seas – a coalition of Ireland’s leading environmental NGOs and environmental networks of which BirdWatch Ireland is a founding member – we have been calling for the government to meet their targets, but this alone is not enough. More action must be taken in order for us to adequately protect these important marine habitats and the many species that they support. Any move to better protect important habitats for birds is to be welcomed, and this is certainly no different. We are urging the Irish government to be ambitious in their plans for this new SPA and stress the need for focused community engagement in the surrounding areas. We also continue our urgent calls for the publication of the long-awaited Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Bill.
Arctic Tern

Bird ‘Flu Devastates Key Irish Seabird Colonies

BirdWatch Ireland staff have been dealing with alarming and unprecedented outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza, or bird ‘flu, at some of Ireland’s most important seabird colonies. Over the past few weeks, the carcasses of hundreds of dead seabirds, both adults and chicks, have been recovered for disposal, in an effort to try to prevent further spread of this highly contagious viral disease. There are fears for the long-term devastating consequences this outbreak may have on Ireland’s seabird populations, which are of international importance. During the current nesting season, the hardest hit birds have been members of the tern family, a group of migratory seabirds which visit Ireland each summer to breed. All five of Ireland’s breeding tern species are ‘Amber-listed’ species of conservation concern, meaning that their populations were already been identified as being at risk before the current disease outbreak. Some of Ireland's most vulnerable wild birds are under severe threat

Please click here to donate to our Bird 'Flu Emergency Appeal

Last summer, seabird colonies across Ireland, Britain, Europe and other parts of the world were severely impacted by the same H5N1 strain of bird ‘flu, in what was the worst global outbreak of this disease in history. Populations of the Gannet, Ireland’s largest breeding seabird species, were particularly hard-hit: please click here for more details. Elsewhere in Europe, large numbers of terns perished at their nesting colonies. Our Irish tern colonies were not impacted last summer, but unfortunately it seems that their luck has run out this year. BirdWatch Ireland manages the four most important tern colonies in Ireland. Monitoring and conservation at Lady’s Island Lake (Wexford), Rockabill Island (Dublin) and Kilcoole Beach (Wicklow) is in conjunction with, and funded by, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and our work on the Dublin Port Tern colony is funded by Dublin Port Company. Although it is still too early to assess the full impacts on populations, at the time of writing more than 160 adult Common Terns, along with over 450 Common Tern chicks, have been found dead at the breeding colony at Lady’s Island Lake, with the disease now also threatening the populations of Sandwich Terns and Roseate Terns that also nest there. The disease has probably spread from the earlier-nesting Black-headed Gulls also present at the same location, which hosts the species’ largest colony in Ireland. Dead terns at Lady's Island Lake, Co. Wexford: victims of bird 'flu

Dead terns at Lady's Island Lake, Co. Wexford: victims of bird 'flu (Photo: BirdWatch Ireland)

Lady’s Island Lake and Rockabill Island are home to the two largest mixed-species tern colonies in Ireland, with the latter holding 1,750 pairs of Roseate Terns. This means that it is, by far, the largest and most important breeding colony for this threatened species in all of Europe, holding approx. 60% of the European population. A large-scale outbreak of bird ‘flu in this colony would have disastrous repercussions for Roseate Terns at an international level. Since 1st July, a small number of adult Common Terns have been found dead or dying on Rockabill Island. Unfortunately, the carcasses sent to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for analysis have tested positive for bird ‘flu. BirdWatch Ireland fieldworker wearing PPE, collecting bird 'flu victims

BirdWatch Ireland fieldworker wearing PPE, collecting bird 'flu victims (Photo: BirdWatch Ireland)

These outbreaks are very worrying for the future conservation of our tern species. A poor breeding season at a tern colony, with few chicks surviving, is unfortunate, but can be compensated for by better breeding success in subsequent years. However, the deaths of large numbers of adult terns of breeding age has a much bigger impact, and recovery will take a long time. BirdWatch Ireland will continue to monitor these outbreaks and remove carcasses, wherever it possible to do so safely. Experience from seabird colonies elsewhere in Europe last summer has shown that carcass removal is a key action to minimising the spread of avian influenza.

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All of us at BirdWatch Ireland would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone who has donated to our Bird ‘Flu Emergency Appeal to date. The funds raised have been an enormous help in covering the cost of specialist personal protective equipment and training for our tern colony wardens. When faced with a crisis such as this one, we depend heavily on the generosity of our members and supporters, and your support has been vital in minimising the impacts of this terrible disease and keeping our wardens safe. If you wish to donate to BirdWatch Ireland's Bird ‘Flu Emergency Appeal, please click here.

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We would like to remind the public not to touch any sick or dead seabirds, but to report them via BirdTrack and the Department of Agriculture’s ‘Avian Check’ web page.

If you own chickens or other poultry then please consult the Department of Agriculture website for further advice.